How many of you have ever heard of or seen Coco’s? Now, how many of you have eaten at Coco’s?
I, personally, have not.
I’ve seen Coco’s locations in various towns, including one just down the street from where I’m currently living, but I have never been tempted to eat one. If you ask me why, my answer is that it looks like a mediocre Denny’s, and since everyone eats at Denny’s (and no one I know eats at Coco’s), I might as well eat at Denny’s too. After all, Denny’s is the place to be when it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and you’re done with dancing but not quite done hanging out with your friends. My small hometown has three Denny’s, two of which are right across the street from each other! And both of them are always packed.
(Although… that might just mean there’s nowhere better than Denny’s to eat in my hometown.)
But, I need to stop talking about Denny’s. Because this is a blog about Coco’s. And according to Wikipedia, Coco’s isn’t even anything like Denny’s! Apparently, the restaurant competes with Marie Callender’s and Bakers Square — two restaurants which I don’t think of as restaurants, but rather, places to get really delicious pie. Especially French Silk chocolate pie. Mmm…
Now, I can’t rely on Wikipedia to teach me about all there is to know about Coco’s, because all it tells me about its locations is that there are over 115 restaurants (as of 2002) operating in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. But what about locations in Japan?
This is where you say, “What? Coco’s? In Japan?”
And I say to you, Yes! Coco’s! In Japan!
When I visited Tokyo in the summer of 2008, Coco’s was everywhere. As of April 2010, there are 566 operating within the country. That’s a whole lot of Coco’s — and it’s the reason why I am suddenly so intrigued.
A quick menu comparison:
A sample of items available from Coco’s in Japan.
Coco’s USA offers baked pastries, American cuisine (breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, etc.), and various flavored pies.
Coco’s Japan offers hamburger and chicken steak, spaghetti, pizza, rice road (?), and a limited selection of Japanese dishes.
I think the restaurant serves to bring American food to Japan, catered for Japanese taste. The menus are significantly different though. I’d like to do a comparison between the two chain restaurants, but there are two obstacles which I must overcome:
1) Finding equivalent items on the two menus to compare, and
2) Finding a Coco’s nearby that doesn’t rate less than 2 stars on Yelp.
If I succeed, look out for Coco’s blog posts part 2 and 3. Wish me luck! がんばります！
